Farm Visit: Victoria - A Trip to Proteaflora

ProteaFlora, Australia’s largest provider of Protea plants, was founded by Peter Mathews in 1974, and is currently managed by two following generations of the Mathews family, including David, Ilse and Guy.

WildFlower enthusiasts on the Proteaflora farm tour.

The Mathews family is deeply intertwined within the wildflower industry, with Peter Mathews having notably hosted the first International Protea Association meeting in Melbourne in 1981. The Mathews family continues to attend the International Protea Association conference to this day.

Proteaflora’s dispatch area exhibits a colourful array of Proteaceae, with trays of potted plants awaiting selection to be sent to cut flower growers and nurseries across Australia. Currently Proteaflora offers a range of Leucadendrons, Leucospermums, Protea and Telopea, as well as a smaller variety of Aulax, Banksia, Berzelia, Mimetes, Phylica and Serruria. They intend to focus on diversifying further to offer a greater range of Australian Proteaceae including more Banksia, and Grevillea.

A key focus for Proteaflora involves intensively managing motherstock, of which 90% is grown in pots on benches in an undercover environment. This allows irrigation, nutrition and pest and disease management to be optimised. This ultimately ensures a reliable supply of high quality plant material to be available for propagation. The remaining 10% of motherstock that is grown outdoors, is mainly Telopea and some Protea species.

Proteaflora focuses on nutrition and irrigation to optimise root development of plants.

Proteaflora is open to adopting and installing new technologies, and has recently built a large controlled environment greenhouse, allowing them the ability to open and close the roof at a desired temperature. Additionally, they use a drone for spraying pests and diseases, decreasing labour usage and allowing them to be able to spray when paddocks are too wet for machinery access.

Proteaflora’s drone assists with integrated management practises.

The Mathews family and their employees are very open to sharing their years of expertise and knowledge and left many attendees feeling inspired following the tour.